Million Masks March

The Million Mask March organised by Anonymous took place in London with reports that there will be more protests to follow

A man is detained by police on Regent Street in London during the Million Mask March bonfire night protest organised by activist group Anonymous

"Modern life is becoming more and more dependent on the Internet and the public is rightly concerned about the security of websites.

The message must be sent out that attacking websites will result in custodial sentences

Judge Graham Morrow

"The message must be sent out that attacking websites will result in custodial sentences.

"You intended to cause disruption to those websites. These offences had the potential to cause great damage to the community at large.

"They are offences which are relatively easy to anyone with the relevant expertise and are increasingly prevalent. The public is entitled to be protected from them."

MERCURY PRESS

The 51-year-old was sentenced to eight and a half months

The judge said he accepted Sullivan committed the offences as "revenge" against what he perceived as his targets' "injustices and immoral behaviour".

He agreed that Sullivan had not tried to gain personal data from any of the websites.

Support group the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) had to close its website for three days while others have since spent thousands of pounds improving their cyber security.

Sullivan was caught after officers from the National Crime Agency's cyber crime unit linked the attacks to his Twitter account.

Prosecutor Teresa Loftus told the court that the websites targeted by Sullivan himself were in a five week period between between June and July 2013.

She said that Sullivan downloaded software on his computer called "Rage Booter" to launch "denial of service" attacks - similar to those that affected broadband firm Talk-Talk.

Miss Loftus said: "This requires just one computer and one Internet connection to flood the server with packets of data and overload the server's bandwidth.

"He is part of a group called Anonymous which which shares a collective interest in cyber attacks.

GETTY

Sullivan committed revenge attacks against what he considered unjust activities from his target

"These attacks were deliberate and caused the site owners considerable inconvenience and financial harm.

"The group has adopted a Guy Fawkes mask as its emblem to hide its real identity."

Kevin Barry, defending, said Sullivan was "a misguided nuisance rather than a malicious menace."

Mr Barry added: "He felt social and political wrongs were being done and that in attacking the websites, he was making a legitimate protest."

Steven Pye, senior operations manager at the National Crime Agency's cyber crime unit, said: "Sullivan's actions are likely to have deprived vulnerable people access to important information, ranging from where to get support on family breakup, to reporting crime anonymously.

"This multi-agency operation illustrates the commitment of the NCA to pursuing people who think they can criminally disrupt important public services or legitimate businesses."